Filling the Blanks
by Higuchimon
Summary: [one-shot, Digimon Friendship Challenge, Season 2, Round 3, Frontier Arc, Bokomon & Cherubimon] As Bokomon works on writing his story of the legendary warriors, he realizes he's going to need a little help filling in the blanks.


**Disclaimer:** I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit.  
**Fandom:** Digimon Frontier  
**Title:** Filling the Blanks  
**Friends:** Bokomon, Cherubimon  
**Word Count:** 2,374  
**Genre:** Friendship||**Rated:** PG  
**Feedback:** All forms eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.  
**Summary:** As Bokomon works on writing his story of the legendary warriors, he realizes he's going to need a little help filling in the blanks.

* * *

Bokomon turned over the pages of his book. Proofreading was always the hardest part of writing anything, he decided. Not only did he have to make certain of all the basic concepts of grammar, punctuation, and the rest, but there were drawings and schematics to double-check, the facts to recall and write down objectively, and so much more. Why anyone would want to be a historian baffled him at times.

At least, it did when he wasn't thoroughly enjoying himself double-checking everything, recalling the facts and writing them down objectively, and every other aspect of recording the adventures of the humans who bore the spirits of the Legendary Warriors.

He read over the section he'd written about Izumi and how she'd gained her human spirit. Everything appeared to be in order there. He went on to check everyone else's, Takuya's, Kouji's, Tomoki's, and Junpei's. Everything was as defined and well written as he could manage it.

_Kouichi._ Bokomon turned to a blank page and stared at it. He'd written so much about all of the others, and a great deal about what had happened after Kouichi had flung off Cherubimon's brainwashing and joined their group. The bond between the warriors of Light and Darkness had been instrumental to the salvation of the world. But what had happened before that, he knew very little about.

He knew the basics, of course. Their entire group had. Kouichi's spirit, hurting inside and out, had arrived in the Digital World and been found by Cherubimon, who had given him the corrupted Spirits of Darkness.

_But what else happened?_ His pen hovered over the blank page as he tried to think of how to phrase what he didn't even know. Finally, he put the pen down. When one didn't know something, he reasoned, the only way to find out was to ask someone who _did_ know.

Travel in the Digital World was a little easier these days, with Trailmon coming and going from all points: even the realm of Darkness. It still wasn't the vacation spot of choice for anyone, but Bokomon managed to persuade Worm to take him there anyway.

"Well, this is an improvement," Bokomon observed as he eyed Venus Rose. When last he'd been there, Cherubimon himself had little more than obliterated the castle. Now it shone in restored glory. He hurried up to the door and knocked on it, the sound echoing beyond.

He somewhat had expected to be met by a servant of Cherubimon's, perhaps a Hanumon or a Leomon, given Cherubimon's status as the lord of beast-types. What he did _not_ expect was to see Ranamon standing there. She blinked down at him, a teasing grin on her lips.

"Well, hey there. Did you come to see me?" He _knew_ she had to be purified; after all she had contributed to the formation of Susanoomon, but some facts apparently didn't change: Ranamon was a flirt.

"Uh, no, not really." He tugged his book out of his body warmer and waved it at her. "I need to speak to Cherubimon-sama, if he's not busy." He tried not to fidget. Cherubimon had helped to defeat Lucemon. This shouldn't be too hard. He hoped.

Ranamon tilted her head back, her grin turning into a somewhat more serious look. "Well, hold on, and I'll go see. It won't take long." She vanished through a door before Bokomon had a chance to say anything. He held onto his book, shifting his weight from foot to foot. What he would do if Cherubimon didn't have the time or didn't want to talk baffled him. He couldn't imagine leaving such an important piece of Digital world history _blank_!

"Bokomon." The historian Digimon's head shot up at that voice and he turned to see Cherubimon hovering in the doorway. "Ranamon said you wanted to speak to me?"

Bokomon nodded and took out the book again, finding his voice with the comforting help of the pages and the scent of ink. "I've been working on my book detailing out recent events. I've completed almost everything I can on my own, but to have it cover everything, I need your help, Cherubimon-sama."

Silence echoed between them for a few breaths of time. Then Cherubimon turned and beckoned to him. "Come with me." He led the way to a large chamber, Bokomon pattering along behind him. The room contained a throne in Cherubimon's size as well as a comfortable chair, complete with a magnificent view of the land outside.

Bokomon took the chair and opened his book to the blank pages he'd set aside for this part of the story. He hesitated when Cherubimon said nothing at all and finally spoke. "I hope you don't mind talking to me about this. But I think it's important that everyone know what happened."

"I know." Cherubimon turned his gaze down to Bokomon. He gestured for a moment and an image of a large library, much like that of Ophanimon at the Castle of Light, only _much_ larger, appeared. "Knowledge _is_ what I have charge over."

Bokomon flushed from the spike on his head to the tips of his toes. "Oh. Yes. Of course." He'd known that. Really.

Cherubimon fell silent again for a few moments, and Bokomon surmised that he was putting his thoughts in order. "You know of what happened before, with Seraphimon and Ophanimon."

"Yes, sir." Bokomon flipped back a few pages and read what he'd written there. "Cherubimon, master of the Beast-Type Digimon, grew to believe that the other two Holy Angels conspired against him, and raised a mighty army to defeat them. When he attacked Seraphimon, Ophanimon surrendered herself in order to have Seraphimon's life spared."

He halted and looked back up at his host. "Uh, yes." What had possessed him to do that? Despite everything, hearing about one's past mistakes couldn't be pleasant.

"Yes." Cherubimon nodded, sadness in his great soft eyes. "I trapped Ophanimon in this very castle, determined that no one would ever harm me, or the Beast-types again. I wanted all the power for myself and told myself it was for their benefit, when it wasn't. I deceived even myself."

He gathered his words once again. "I wanted to believe that was I was doing was right, and that I could rule without their help. Most of the time I did believe it. But I couldn't work alone. I couldn't be everywhere and take all the data I needed for that power. I had control of the spirits of Wood, Steel, Darkness, Water, and Earth. It was easy enough to find warriors who could fill the positions of most of those, but Darkness was different."

Bokomon took rapid notes on a notepad he pulled from his body warmer. He would translate this into something more detailed later, but for now, he just wanted to get the basic facts down.

"What was so different about it?" Kouichi had said a few things, and he recalled what Cherubimon himself had said once before, but perhaps now would give a different perspective.

"Darkness, unlike the other elements, can be, and is, two-sided. It can be the darkness of evil that twists and corrupts all that it touches, which is what I made the spirits of Darkness be then. Or it can be the clean darkness that lies behind the world, that brings times of resting and healing. Darkness is as important to the world as light is. It is no more naturally evil than the fall of night is." Cherubimon told him. "Because of that, the person who carried the Spirits of Darkness had to be both good and evil. There were no Digimon I could find who fit what the Spirits wanted."

Bokomon jotted all of that down. It made sense with what had happened, after all. "But then you found Kouichi."

"Yes. A good boy, but one with pain in his heart that I could nurture and have him grow into a warrior of evil." Regret tinged his voice now. "That pain called to me from across the worlds. It was so much like _my_ pain, to be rejected by the ones I cared about. I could have felt him across a thousand worlds if I needed to." He stared downward, and if Bokomon had been large enough, he thought he would have given the Holy Angel a hug. He could use one.

"He was to be my trump card, the ultimate weapon who would destroy my enemies and bring me everything that I wanted that no one else could. That is why I held him back from battling with you."

Bokomon paused and looked up at him. "I think that was a good decision for us as well. If you'd sent him instead of Grottomon or the others, we would have all been destroyed!" It had been bad enough _with_ Grottomon. But if Duskmon had attacked before they found the Beast Spirits…Bokomon was certain he had fodder for nightmares now.

"I wanted to be certain he was ready as well. Not being a Digimon by nature, he had much to learn to master his powers. I sent him to many areas here in the realm of darkness for training." Cherubimon stared into nothing as he spoke: or perhaps into the past. "I had to be certain of his loyalty as well, and that meant blanking out his memories as best that I could. If he remembered everything about his brother, he wouldn't have been of any use to me."

More notes filled the notepad; Bokomon had _thought_ about some of this, but hearing it from this perspective was different. He would've liked hearing from Kouichi as well, but since that wasn't possible, this was the best he could do.

"How did the other warriors react to him?" He knew that Duskmon had destroyed Petaldramon without so much as a thought but three others had served Cherubimon in those days. He wanted their perspective. _Wait. Ranamon was there. I could ask her. I could ask them all!_

"Perhaps you can ask them for what they thought." Cherubimon almost seemed to have read Bokomon's mind. "They retained all of their memories of that time." Another sad smile tugged at his lips. "And they still remain here to help me."

Bokomon blinked several times. Interviewing all of those who had been on the other side during the war appealed to him. "I think I will, later." He wanted to finish getting Cherubimon's perspective on all of this first.

"As for what I noticed, he wasn't inclined himself to associate with them. They were all aware of each other and on occasion would go on missions together, before I began to focus on you all. But he kept to himself." Cherubimon reflected. "Perhaps I did my work too well, for he was devoted to me and to what I wanted of him. He gathered more data than the others and did it with more ruthlessness. When it came to attacking the other Legendary Warriors, he was even better at that."

Bokomon's hand shook a little as he noted that down. There was no way to argue with it either. Most of the dark Warriors had been _annoying_ and terrifying at the time. Duskmon had been a nightmare from the darkest regions.

"When his memories began to stir because of Kouji and Ophanimon, I dared not let him go. I _could_ not. If the goodness in him won out over the evil, then it could well have meant that the same would happen to me: something I didn't want. I wanted to believe that my cause was right and that Ophanimon and Seraphimon's betrayal was true. I wanted this more than ever when he began to turn away from me. I wanted to believe he was like me: that he wanted power to destroy those who had hurt him."

Now Cherubimon's lips bent once more, and the smile's sorrow vanished, replaced by pride. "I was wrong. He _was_ like me, hurt and confused and wanting someone to blame who wasn't himself. And I wanted to kill him for showing me, without even knowing it, that I was wrong." A deep sigh filled the room with sorrow. "I wish that I could speak to him now. I never had the chance to tell him how sorry I am for all that I did to him."

"I think he knows." Bokomon replied, writing down the last few details as he spoke. "I never asked, but I think he did anyway." Something in Kouichi's voice when he'd fought Lucemon said it to him, that he understood more than words could've said at the time.

"I hope so. Perhaps someday, I'll have a chance to see him again."

Bokomon liked that idea, and for more than wanting to finish his story with all those miniscule details he couldn't remember for himself. He wanted to see his friends again. "Perhaps we all will, Cherubimon-sama." There was more he wanted to ask, such as what had happened after the purification and before he'd hatched again, but a quick look outside showed the darker shadows of night falling. Even here it was possible to tell day from night. "I think I should go find a place to stay. Perhaps we can continue this tomorrow?"

Cherubimon turned his attention back to him. "You can stay here if you like. There are plenty of spare rooms, and there is quite a lot we haven't spoken of yet." He paused before he spoke again. "What did you have in mind to do once your book is finished?"

"Well, I hadn't thought about it." Bokomon stared down at the book before he looked back up at his host. Finishing the book was some kind of lofty goal in his mind, a destination that he wanted to reach but could never imagine actually being there.

"I think I have a few suggestions you might like." Cherubimon rose from his throne and gestured Bokomon to arise as well. "But we can talk about it over dinner."

Dinner with one of the three Great Angels who ruled their world. Bokomon leaped to his feet, eyes gleaming in delight. This was going to be something worth writing about!

**The End**


End file.
